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Neverland

Jungle Alley

bump

Pipes for Hire: Stuff I've Sung for Other Songwriters

A track by Neverland, written by bump, Patrick Sugg, & Gary Lee.  This is probably the only one-take, studio-track, lead vocals I ever recorded.  It was recorded at Virgin Studios and engineered by the late (and great) Bill Kennedy.  This was my favorite of our Neverland songs, and I played it at my solo gigs for many years after leaving Neverland.

Talkin To Alice, by Neverland

I still love the Brian May guitars that Patrick Sugg played on the choruses of this.

Live Again, by Neverland

This is a Neverland song that we recorded with drummer Kevin Valentine, who also engineered the recording.  

Dirty People, by Neverland

My go to, play it anywhere, any time song.  Wrote it in an hour one night in LA. 

This Old House, by bump

JFA recorded this at The Enterprise in LA with engineer Marc DeSisto.  It's big and dreamy.  I write some pretty soft songs, and this is certainly one of them.  It's certainly a precursor to Neverland's "Live Again."  Heavy bands, soft songs.  Probably one reason I wound up a professor of writing.  :)

I Still Dream, by Jungle Alley

I remember writing this song with Ted McCloskey immediately after he bought a new vacuum cleaner to replace the one his ex-roommate took when he moved out.

Furniture, by Sideshow Bob

My favorite part of this song is the bridge--specifically, the big harmony background vocals.  We did the original demo for the song in my studio before tracking this version at A&M and Virgin.  I simply couldn't convince Bill Kennedy to turn those vocals up more in this version.  I think I was lucky that he put them in there at all. 

She Never Noticed, by Neverland

This was from the Untucked album. It's hard for me to listen to this track because I was suffering from vocal nodules at the time of the recording.  That said, this remains one of my favorite songs.  And I love the pedal steel that Ted McCloskey played on it.  Plus, I got to mention "Chimney Rocks" from my hometown!  More autobiography on this one.

Nothing, by Sideshow Bob

The theme I recorded--too quickly and with a very bad mic--for "For the 25." It was meant only to give a suggestion for the type of music I was imagining for the movie, but Logan used it.  So it goes. I hope we get to redo it sometime.

For The 25 theme, by bump

This was one of the last songs I wrote in LA.  

Can't Leave Here Fast Enough, by bump

Produced by Dennis Moody. This was our first song to get notice around Hollywood.  I remember Gene SImmons telling us it reminded him of Free and Jani Lane always told me he wished he had a song like it--simple, sexy, soulful.  We later recorded a big production version with Byron, but this version--my first vocal track recorded with the band and my first song written with Steve--remains my favorite.   

Tired Of Your Love, by Jungle Alley

Produced by Byron DeLear. This was regularly an opener for our live shows & we were really excited to record it with Byron.  Alas, I think our compressed recoding schedule broke the young genius as this, his last mix, seems to have brought Goliath to his knees in the end.  WAY over the top production.  Fun in its own right, but the song gets rather ... lost along the way.  Still, I remember the song fondly--it was one of the first I wrote with the band.

Ready, by Jungle Alley

Produced by Byron DeLear.  If I didn't know that we were a bunch of drunks, I'd swear, from the tempo on this track, that we were smoking crack.  I want to travel back in time, burst into Byron's studio, and tell everyone to drink a six pack and chill the hell out!  Alas.  Still, this was my favorite Jungle Alley song.  I loved playing it live, where it was much more swampy and organic.

On My Way Back Home, by Jungle Alley

Produced by Byron DeLear. This was JFA's epic power ballad. Lighters out, everybody!  Joee wrote the riff. Most of the lyric and melody was written by the Corsos' buddy Frank Annunziato. I wrote the bridge when I inherited the tune.  This was Byron's production opus. Larger than life. It was to be our "Heaven."  It wasn't. However, I always loved singing it live, especially since Bekka Bramlett regularly joined us when we performed it.

Even Though, by Jungle Alley

Produced by Byron DeLear. Lots of drama on this one--ah, youth.  And Byron was really doing his best to prove he was the next Mutt Lange on this track as well.  Over the top.  I remember being in the vocal booth a long time on this track.

Torturing Sky, by Jungle Alley

Alex Echo gave me some partial song lyrics.  This is my favorite product of that partnership.  Of course, I screwed up the chorus lyric.  Alex wrote a brilliant lyric: "Chase the clouds AND the sunny days."  In this songwriting demo, I changed that brilliant lyric to the more pedestrian, "Chase the clouds FROM your sunny days."  I have sung the song as originally authored ever since.  Please forgive.  And, please, chase your dreams, no matter how far away. Chase the clouds and the sunny days.  

Chase, by bump

OK, this is the non "way-oh" mix, which seems far more reasonable to me these days than the original version I had posted.  I'm happy to have found this version.  Production aside, I love the song.  And, production not aside, I'm really proud of the bridge vocals. I haven't played this song live for the longest time.  I'm really happy to have rediscovered it.

Alone She Cries, by bump

Title Track from our record.  Not sure where the idea came from--could have been inspired by an artist I liked at the time: Michael Parkes. He refers to himself as a "magical realist," not a surrealist, but "magical real world" sounded way too precious.  Poetic license is powerful medicine. This track was engineered by Bill Kennedy.  What a shame that he is gone.

Surreal World, by Neverland

I recorded the lead vocals, and some of the backing vocals, to these four tracks by Jeff Young, formerly of Megadeth.  I got a call from producer Pat Regan to come in and track a vocal for Jeff and was asked at the end of the session to sing on all four tracks.  I think these tracks kick some serious ass.  Unfortunately, the romance was short lived.  To the best of my knowledge, Jeff Young is the sole writer of all of these fantastic tracks.  His guitar playing is masterful on these as is Pat's production.  I am sad that the project never resulted in more than these four songs.  But I had a blast tracking them.  I believe that Debby Holiday, who sings background on this version of Beggar's Day, recut all of the lead vocals on these tracks after I left the project, though what actually became of the project, I simply do not know.  

"Peace" was the most challenging of the four songs for me to sing.  Jeff and Pat wanted something really delicate and quiet at the beginnings of the verses, and I remember that being pretty tough to pull off with all of other heavy singing done during these sessions.  The other tunes demanded dynamic singing, but not to this extreme.

Peace

I recorded the lead vocals, and some of the backing vocals, to these four tracks by Jeff Young, formerly of Megadeth.  I got a call from producer Pat Regan to come in and track a vocal for Jeff and was asked at the end of the session to sing on all four tracks.  I think these tracks kick some serious ass.  Unfortunately, the romance was short lived.  To the best of my knowledge, Jeff Young is the sole writer of all of these fantastic tracks.  His guitar playing is masterful on these as is Pat's production.  I am sad that the project never resulted in more than these four songs.  But I had a blast tracking them.  I believe that Debby Holiday, who sings background on this version of Beggar's Day, recut all of the lead vocals on these tracks after I left the project, though what actually became of the project, I simply do not know.  

In terms of this song, Little Mexico, I clearly remember Jeff wanting me to do a David Lee Roth sort of rap in the breakdown after the solo.  I refused to do so--not because I thought it was a bad idea, but because I had no faith in my ability to pull it off convincingly.  So I scatted some stuff I was more comfortable doing--more Plant than Roth.  That's how it stands.  However, Jeff and Pat found some guys on the street in Hollywood who they paid to come into the studio and lay down the "I got want you want; I got what you need" stuff.  All in all, it's way better than anything I would have done.

And I must say, I love Jeff Scott Soto's backgrounds on this tune. It's quite a thrill, all these years later, to hear my voice along with his on this track.  Fun.

Little Mexico

I recorded the lead vocals, and some of the backing vocals, to these four tracks by Jeff Young, formerly of Megadeth.  I got a call from producer Pat Regan to come in and track a vocal for Jeff and was asked at the end of the session to sing on all four tracks.  I think these tracks kick some serious ass.  Unfortunately, the romance was short lived.  To the best of my knowledge, Jeff Young is the sole writer of all of these fantastic tracks.  His guitar playing is masterful on these as is Pat's production.  I am sad that the project never resulted in more than these four songs.  But I had a blast tracking them.  I believe that Debby Holiday, who sings background on this version of Beggar's Day, recut all of the lead vocals on these tracks after I left the project, though what actually became of the project, I simply do not know.  

Beggar's Day

Genius

Nothing

The Captive

Breaking Ground

So Happy

Animated Fools

Ghost Unholy

Monkey Business

Tommorow Will Wait

This is Sideshow Bob's much faster version of my song.

I'm Feeling Better

You Should Know

As She Says

Jimmy Oneway

This is JFA the way I remember being in the band--just us--no huge production.  This is why this was and remains my favorite JFA song.  I don't remember exactly when this was recorded--possibly after the Byron DeLear sessions.  It's from an analog cassette tape marked "Mark Eaton Ruffs."  It appears to be a board mix--and I think we recorded this at Sound City.  Regardless, I love it--glitches and all.

On My Way Back Home: demo

A bare-bones, board mix: post Byron DeLear.  I think we recorded this at Sound City.

Sweet Little Secret: demo

This is a demo I sang for the songwriter, Paul Stanley of KIss. It was produced by Pat Regan.

So Long

This is a song written by Tommy Thayer of Kiss. I sang the lead vocal, & he demo was recording was engineered by Kevin Valentine, a drummer who would later record with me in Neverland.

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